[ Indonesia ] Indonesia’s Sriwijaya Air is to open a private airport and MRO facility on Bintan Island, with financial backing from Singapore’s Gallant Venture Ltd.

04 August 2017

Local reports said that the 3,000-m metre runway, MRO, and terminal were due for completion in 2019 and that the facility would be operational in 2020. “We’ve conducted the land preparation; we’re now working on the runway and airport development,” said Abdul Wahab, General Manager of Gallant-owned developers, PT Bintan Resort Cakrawala. The developers hope that the USD150 million project will increase tourism to the Indonesian island from 600,000 per year to as many as 3 million. The second stage of the airport will include its development into a regional hub and the addition of a flight training academy, while a proposed third stage would add a secondary runway. The site had previously been linked to Garuda Indonesia, which signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gallant Venture in 2014 to develop an airport and MRO facility there. However, due to a number of obstacles, Garuda has reportedly shifted its focus to Batam, according to Batam news site, Tribun.